Developing Compassion So You Can Preach With Passion

We are considering how to grow the element of passion in your preaching. The last post introduced the idea that experiencing compassion will directly impact passion. The subject of this post is how to go about developing compassion do you can preach with passion in your ministry.

What Compassion Looks Like

One of my areas of interest is the revival periods in the United States. I’ve studied and written about them, especially considering the people who became leaders. If you want to consider this more fully, consider my book, available on Amazon, entitled, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Things.

If you are a student at Christian Leaders Institute, you will receive a pdf with the course.

The Example of George Whitefield

One of the people who was especially used by God to bring revival to the country in the Great Awakening was an ordained priest in the Church of England. One of the things that made him so effective in bringing people to faith was that his preaching was not proclaiming the judgment of God as it was the bubbling up of his compassion for the people to whom he was preaching. This is how he himself described how compassion impacted his preaching.

You blame me for weeping; but how can I help it, when you will not weep for yourselves, although your own immortal souls are on the verge of destruction, and for aught I know, you are hearing your last sermon, and may never more have an opportunity to have Christ offered to you? (quoted in Charles Sturgeon, Lectures To My Students, p. 307)

Here’s how Spurgeon goes on to describe the preaching of Whitefield:

Hear how Whitfield preached, and never dare be lethargic again.

And Sturgeon quotes a contemporary of Whitfield:

I hardly ever knew him go through a sermon without weeping more or less. His voice was often interrupted by his affections.

Developing Compassion to Impact Your Preaching

Check Your Heart

So how do you go about developing compassion so you can preach with passion in your sermons? Here are some suggestions:

Check Your Heart. Do you really feel compassion for the people to whom you preach? As I said in the last post, I realized at one point in my ministry that I liked the attention of preaching, and realized that I was less concerned about preaching to the needs of people and more concerned about how I was coming across. So I asked God to change my heart and give me more compassion for people. After that there were times when tears were close, especially when talking about children in our world who are starving or dying, or when I was at a funeral for a person whose family was impacted by death, or when I was talking about people lost, away from Christ.

Listen for the Cries of Peoples’ Hearts

Take time to observe people–not just what they are doing, but noting their life-situation. And listen for the heart-cry. Where are they crying? I’ve quoted Alex Montoya’s work, Preaching with Passion, several times in these posts about preaching. I am going to quote him at length here, for he has learned the art of developing compassion so you can preach with passion in your ministry.

“There have been times in my ministry when an icy chill has come over my heart, when my soul no longer weeps, when my sermons no longer connect, and when the act of preaching becomes a drudgery. I know that I have then lost compassion for people. That is when I retreat to a small taco stand in the barrio of East Los Angeles, to a place where real people live. I order a cup of coffee and sit with my back against the wall. Then I watch, I observe, I read, and I listen intently for the heart cry.

A group of gang-bangers come in for a snack–one in four will die before the age of 18; two of the others will end up in prison. All are doomed to a hard life. A young mother comes in with her brood of youngsters. It is obvious that they are poor. They share drinks. They live in poverty; some will never see a forest or snow. An old drunk staggers in, begging for a meal. He is quickly thrown out. That was somebody’s baby boy. A mother at one time cradled that man and nursed him. The poor specimen of humanity has children. His wife is somewhere out there. They have long since disowned him but they have not forgotten him. He is still somebody’s daddy. For all I know, he could have been my own.

I listen until I hear their cries, until their souls cry out to me. “Please help, I’m perishing!” until the tears pour forth from my melted heart! I am in love with humanity once again. Now I am fit to ascend the pulpit, to weep with those who weep, to laugh with those who laugh, and to bring the living Word–Christ–to a needy people. Now I can preach with passion, for now I have compassion.” (Alex Montoya, Preach with Passion, p. 68-69

Conclusion

We’ll continue to explore this topic in the next post.

August 13, 2024/by Bruce Ballast